Player2

Ice damage is cold... cold traditionally slows people. Fire does not traditionally slow people... it makes them move faster to get the hell away from it burning them.

I've been on 2-star ITF pugs that went fine. 3-star starts to push the limits, though.

Personally, I dislike having to switch back to the classic mode. I don't mind them adding new features to the game, but setting them as the default for new characters going forward is annoying as hell.

No. The Egg Hunter badge room in Faultline is the best area in the game.

Stats are pointless. Just play the game and enjoy it. Don't worry about how many people play what archtypes or powersets or whatever. Do your own thing.

The point of my commentary is always that origin is meaningless BECAUSE any origin can be applied to any powerset. But sometimes the argument against a magical themed powerset comes up that it MUST be Magic origin and that's too specific to be useful... even if you reasonably offer alternatives like alternate animations with and without the spellcasting animations/effects, even if you replace Magic with the not-necessarily-magical alternative of Arcane, some yahoo will insist that it is too specific of one origin. Even if you explain multiple ways that other origins could be applied to an Arcane-themed powerset, like a Mutatation that can innately control magical effects... even if you offer a published example of a character that uses Technology to simulate the appearance of magic use... some narrowminded people will still say that this is too specific to one origin. Even if you point out how blatantly technological powersets like Beam Rifle could absolutely be played as a magical weapon and ask so why can't something look like it's magical but be Technology or Science... Well, you should get the idea. My point is that no matter how many explanations and arguments are made, some people just disagree outright and shoot down every explanation because it doesn't mesh with their personal idea of what should be, and will show up in such a discussion with forum-stalkery efficiency to shoot down any discussion. So if any of my explanations in this thread seem like they're counter-intuitive to what I've stated in the past... blame Rudra.

The commentary about the guns was to point out the hypocrisy. We had a lethal damage powerset with Assault Rifle. We didn't NEED another with Dual Pistols except back in the day people were begging the old devs for a pistol melee set because they wanted gun fu like in that Gun Kata movie. They didn't give people what they asked for, exactly... but they did give the dual pistols and some of the crazy off the wall animations to make those people feel better about not getting gun melee like the flavor-of-the-month movie. We didn't NEED Beam Rifle, either. It's just Energy Blast from a gun. Well, no it's not... but it could have been. And if we didn't have it today but people were asking for an energy gun powerset, the logic would be "just play Energy Blast; you don't need it to come from a gun. It can be technology like Iron Man's energy beam gauntlets if you take the right Gloves costume option or you could just pretend you have a gun." But we got Beam Rifle and it was welcomed by many who enjoy it. Just because some people don't want something doesn't mean that it couldn't have potential as an idea, but to outright dismiss the idea --especially any and every time it comes up-- because it rubs you the wrong way or whatever is pretty damned selfish. "I don't like it, so I don't want anyone to have it. Screw you all, I'm going home." So that's what the weapon customization argument was referencing. But, honestly, you didn't deserve that explanation because I'm sick of trying to use logical and reasoned arguments and then having things summed up as "I want it isn't a strong argument." I said earlier in this post that I will never not support this idea because I think it has merit. But there are the yahoos that will shoot it down every time simply because someone else wants it. You know what? "I don't want it" isn't a very strong argument either. Neither is offering suggestions like using Runes combat aura on whatever other powersets and calling it magic. Yeah, we get it... everything can be magic. That explanation is as weak as you think "I want it" is, so either do better or keep it to yourself.

Nothing? I've addressed this topic on more than one occasion, but the problem is it always degrades into either "this can be solved by giving alternate animations to other powersets" or "I reject magical themed power set because it pigeonholes players into taking the Magic origin" or some other nonsense. I've suggested that mechanically a magical set should be more flexible than a single damage type like what you would get with Magic origin Fire Blast or Magic Origin Dark Blast or Magic Origin Energy Blast. Ideally it should be a new powerset that will admittedly share characteristics with existing powersets... as others that were added later also did (looking at Dual Pistols and Beam Rifle), but that while existing single type power sets could be considered specialist magic focused on one (or two with secondary powerset) kinds of magic, an Arcane themed powerset should be more flexible, either offering different kinds of damage & effects out of the box (like Assault Rifle with it's lethal and fire damage) with each attack or perhaps use something like the Swap Ammo power of Dual Pistols to offer varying damage types and effects. While other powersets would be dedicated specialists, this would be more akin to the flexibility of general magical practitioners who manifest a wider variety of spell type effects. The multiple modes power effect has been used a few times in Dual Pistols, Staff Fighting, and Bio Armor, so it's not introducing a new mechanic to the game code, but how you assign the the effects could make it unique to a new, different power set. I've also addressed the issue of pigeonholing with the Magic origin for a "spellcasting" powerset. First off, start with two the spellcaster theme animations and effects, this lets people who want a dedicated magical flavor spellcaster type character to realize that potential way more than adding the Runes combat aura to one or both hands. But also offer alternate animations with more generic effects for people that might be interested in the powers but not the "magic" theme. And Origin is meaningless. Just like people taking the Magic origin for their gun character and stating that their character has a magical weapon or whatever... you could absolutely apply the origins other than Magic to an Arcane powerset. I've offered possible explanations for how each could be interpreted, but the arguments often come back to "it's magic so it must be tied to Magic origin and I reject blah blah blah." Simple solution is to not call the powerset Magic Blast and refer to it as Arcane Blast (or Support or Control or whatever magical variant set is being pitched at the moment) because Arcane might sound magical and give a magical vibe, but it does not explicitly mean magic. It leaves it open to individual player interpretation like everything else. And if I come off as dismissive of some people's outright rejection, it's because no matter how much I present logical and/or well-thought out explanations for why I think it's a good idea, I get bullshit nonsense and dismissive attitudes because at the core, some people just don't want a magic-themed powerset. And if that's the kind of reaction I get for trying to present good arguments, then I will absolutely be outright dismissive of such people's rejection and will present my own nonsensical arguments against their rejections. Why should I bother reiterating well stated arguments only to have them dismissed because "But I don't want it so I will always against it every time the topic comes up"? I'd rather just mock their derision with ill-conceived ideas like shoulder wands costume pieces because stating any of what I've done before means nothing, so if I can't have what I and others want then at least I can have fun being dismissive of their lame arguments against it. Also, Rudra and PeregrineFalcon are wrong about everything in every post they make and they should both be ignored. Any commentary or negative reactions from them should be summarily dismissed as worthless... even when I happen to be in agreement with either on a given topic. Agreeing with Rudra or PeregrineFalcon on anything makes me wrong, too.

The idea of an Arcane themed blast set has come up more than once before. There are always arguments for and against, but even when pointed out that "Arcane" only implies magic but doesn't have to be restricted to Magic origin use, there will always be people that rail against it simply on some wrong-headed principle and no amount of reasonable discussion will persuade them, nor will they simply pass such a topic by without voicing their opinion on why it's a bad idea. So don't get hung up on terms... it's not you, it's them.

I've tried engaging in reasonable conversation with you in the past, but it always resorts to you just being outright wrong and unable to have any sort of conversation that doesn't end with your opinion is the only one that matters. So.... nah, I'll just continue to point out how you're wrong whenever you choose to engage with me and I feel like it.

Also... SHOULDER WANDS!! BWAAA-HAHAHA!!! Also no.

Why stop there? Why not wand Heads? Since we can have headless characters, just put a wand there instead of a rubber ducky. Hey, why not Wand boots instead of peg legs for those magical martial artists? I know... a wand chest detail, too! Why not? Because you suggested it and that makes it all inherently wrong.

I can choose to be wrong occasionally to support something that I might agree with.

Again? What part of "always" did you misunderstand?

No you don't... because you say so and you are always wrong.

Exactly. Putting together one powerset would be easier than trying to make all the others look magical but distinct. But since you don't actually care, you're happy to sign on for the lamest of "solutions" that won't actually satisfy the people who want a more magical vibe. Why even bother suggesting it??

Absolutely terrible.

Not unless... it's for every powerset and looks different for each and every one. Otherwise I reject your bandaid "fix."

As always, you are just wrong and your words to be dismissed and ignored. I'd ignore you outright, but that would deprive me of giving you the occasional thumbs down.

What good are support characters if they get killed by the autohit powers?

Super Strength got a couple of new animations added before the shutdown, but I feel like LightningDrone has a good point... except for calling Rage a good ability. Personally, Rage feels out of place in the set... unless you want to call the set Hulk Strength, because the various Hulks are really the only super strength characters of note that are known for powering up with their rage. I'm not going to say it's exclusive to them because I'm sure someone will hit me with a couple of obscure references, but the Hulk characters are the only big name ones in a sea of super strength heroes and villains that rage and get more powerful. I dislike Rage and would rather see the whole set's damage re-balanced around having Rage replaced with a standard Build Up. You want rage power, just play a brute. Aside from that, I do like the idea of making Super Strength a little more AoE friendly or anything to highlight the character actually being super strong. Because yeah, we have martial artists and street justice fighters that punch and kick just as effectively, making Super Strength seem very lackluster overall.

Saying all the existing powersets CAN be magical because you take the Magic origin is fine. Fiction is filled with characters who have magical equipment, innate magical power, or even specialized magical spellcasting. But fiction also has examples of magic users having more flexibility and/or just utilizing raw magic itself as an attack. What we need is an Arcane powerset (or powersets) that not only have that thematic flair like the Sorcery pool, but also its own unique mechanics. This is why I'll never NOT support this idea... because you can slap all the alternate animations you want on those other powersets, but they aren't inherently more magical... they're still the same old same old with a new coat of paint. Fire blast will still be fire blast, water blast will still be water blast. Why did we get Dual Pistols when we already had gun attacks with Assault Rifle? Because Dual Pistols is not the same thing even though it's still just a lethal damage blast powerset. It has effects that set it apart from Assault Rifle even though both can also do Fire damage as well as Lethal, they accomplish it differently. Why do we have multiple weapon sets with so much crossover? Battle Axe and War Mace were practically the same set all along until recently, with the only thing differentiating them being one does Smashing damage and has mostly blunt weapon models and the other does Lethal damage and has edged weapons. Did we ever need more than one sword powerset? Why was Katana different? For the different sword and animations? Because it mostly functioned like Broad Sword mechanically. When we got COV, why did they create Ninja Blade as a powerset instead of Katana with Assassin Strike and Placate? There's always been room for powersets that differ only slightly but have a different look. But suggest a powerset that highlights Magic rather than just have Magic tacked on as an afterthought, and a small vocal crowd shows up to denounce it and/or suggest the fix of alternate animations for everything else. Tell you what: I'll accept the alternate animations argument but ONLY if EVERY single powerset gets their own versions with their own unique alternate effects. So you can't just slap the Arcane Blast animation on everything. I want to see different magical rune for every type of damage and different effects on the target. That sounds like it would be a whole lot more work than one powerset, though... doesn't it?

You know, we don't NEED guns. No Assault Rifle, no Beam Rifle, no Dual Pistols... just take those models and animations away and make them generic so that anyone can use the mechanics of the set. Beam Rifle? Nah, just use energy blast and assume the object's presence. Does it matter if it's tech or magic or whatever? Nah, just leave it up to the players to fill in the blanks on how their power is manifesting and why. We don't need obvious tech/gadget pieces to explain why the powers exist... and then you can play all the powersets as whatever guns you want. I think we should do the same for the melee weapon options, too. You don't NEED a war mace to bludgeon someone... just use super strength and pretend you have a mace. Why do we need Broadsword, Katana/Ninja Blade, AND Dual Blades? Maybe combine all the weapon sets into one generic smashing/lethal damage powerset and everyone gets the same generic gray shaft that they can pretend is whatever weapon they want. What? Only one indistinct weapon? How does that solve for dual blades? Well, just pretend you have a second one.

The idea is that all the existing powersets can be viewed as magic... just like they can be viewed as mutation, science, tech, or natural. Which is fine. But there are indeed powersets that are Tech specific (Arsenal, Assault Rifle, Devices, Traps, etc) but could be enhanced by persons with other origins... and things like Martial Arts and Street Justice can be viewed as Natural specific with other origins enhancing a character beyond normal "limits." Some people rail against the very idea of Magic specific powersets because of the idea that they would only be good for that one origin, but this is narrowminded nonsense. All that needs to be done is not call a set specifically "Magic" (like use the term Arcane, which implies magic but does not implicitly mean magic) and offer options in power customization that allow for magic themed animations/effects and generic effects. This means the set and whatever mechanics go along with it could be utilized by anyone under any theme, but it could also grant those who want the specific magical feel something unique to them. For example, if there were an Arcane Blast set, you could animate the powers and effects based on the Sorcery pool but also supplement it with animations from Kinetic Melee which have a castery-feel to them. Let there be magical effects on these as the default, but then offer options that use different animations and generic effects for the people that want something different. As shown by some of the Dark sets, it is entirely possible to offer more than one power effect (standard and Noir) along with animation options. Also... if someone WANTS to make a Technology character that uses Magic-themed animations/effects... or Mutation or Science or Natural... that is also perfectly fine because it's on them to explain why their character fits together the way it does.

Would it be possible to organize the AE contact categories lists a little better? Under Contact Type we have Default, Standard Contacts, Enemy Groups, Objects, and Custom Character... and under that there's Category option, which has All, Arachnos, Cimerora, Heroes, Icon & Facemaker, Law Enforcement, Longbow, Magic, Midnighter, Mutation, Natural, Notoriety, Objects, Other, Ouroboros, P2719657162, Pocket D, Prisoners, Science, Stores, Technology, University, and Vanguard. I was looking for Tobias Hansen from Striga Isle, and the only way to find him was to select Standard Contacts and the All category, then scroll all the way down a very long list. My suggestion is to add an additional Contact Type of Zone, and that type would have an option for each zone that has contacts as the Category options. So if you know where your contact is in the game, you can find them on a much shorter list.